Take Heed to Thyself, Part 1

Introduction to the Series and the Foundational Text

0:02 I feel like a young man who has ambitions to be a pitcher and is used to pitching from the pitcher's mound and suddenly is put out in right field, up above you and away from you, such a distance. But I hope this will not in any way be a barrier to a sense of mutual sharing of heart and mind as together we seek to discover that which the Lord would say to us from his own infallible word. As often as I am privileged to address groups of ministers and students in similar situations as this, I confess that the mental and spiritual trauma of seeking to ascertain what would be the best and most significant contribution that I could make increases with each such opportunity rather than decreases. However, I have chosen to limit myself in the four sessions that I will be attending to one basic passage of scripture which will form the foundation and, in a sense, the framework of all that we consider in the four sessions that I will share with you. And this passage of scripture is found in Paul's letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy and chapter 4.

1:25 I shall read the entire paragraph in which the particular text will be the focus of our study. While you are turning to it, may I suggest if you as ministers and prospective ministers do not make a habit of regularly reading through the letters to Timothy, the first and second of those letters, and the letter to Titus, you are robbing yourselves of that constant exposure to the one inspired manual on pastoral theology ever to be found. There is much to be gleaned from the whole spectrum of divine revelation concerning the principles which should govern the ministry of a true gospel minister. However, the letters to Timothy and to Titus have this unique quality about them that they are, in a very strict sense, letters to preachers, to those engaged in pastoral ministry. And because of this, there is a distillation of directive and counsel. There is a distillation of directive and counsel.

2:38 Now then, reading 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 12 through 16.

2:46 Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example to them that believe in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things.

3:18 Give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. Continue in these things. For in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself.

3:38 And them that hear thee. If there is one text of scripture that ought to be etched into the consciousness of every preacher and every aspirant to the office of the teaching elder. If there is one text that ought to be made into a neon sign and hung outside the study door of every preacher to flash and blink in bright psychedelic lighting every time the preacher entered that study. I believe.

4:11 I believe it's the text that we're to look at in these sessions together. It is verse 16 of this chapter. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. This text is to practical directives for the Christian ministry.

4:29 What a text like Romans 8, 29 and 30 is to doctrinal comprehensiveness. In Romans 8, 29 and 30. You have brought together great and sweeping theological concepts. All of them pressed together in a few short statements showing the magnitude of salvation in Christ as it stretches from eternity in the electing purposes of God unto eternity in God's act of glorification.

5:02 And all of it made certain because of the power of the God who has committed himself to the salvation of the people. Now those truths are taught elsewhere in scripture. Many passages treat one aspect, some another. But in Romans 8, 29 and 30 you have a distillation of the heart of that salvation which comes to sinful men in a context of gracious sovereignty.

5:29 Now I say what Romans 8, 29 and 30 is to doctrinal statement. First Timothy 4, 16 is in the realm of practical directives. There is nothing in this passage that is not found elsewhere in holy scripture. However, in this brief statement the apostle Paul brings together and sets before us in a very concise and succinct manner every major duty of the Christian minister throughout the entirety of his life and ministry.

6:06 Commenting on this very paragraph which I've read. Which is in his classic work on the Christian ministry says, This paragraph condenses in the smallest compass the most important body of appropriate instruction and encouragement to ministerial devotedness. This paragraph in the smallest compass gives the most important appropriate instruction for ministerial devotedness. And so we're going to read this.

6:41 And so we're going to read this. And so we're going to read this. And so we're going to read this. And so we're going to look at it this afternoon, seek to grasp the main content, set the framework of our study, and proceed as far as we can in fleshing out this exhortation until the clock catches up with us.

The Three Divisions of 1 Timothy 4:16

6:54 So much then for that introduction. Now turning to the text itself, will you notice? First of all, the three natural divisions of the text. Not three, because the homileticians have said there must be three.

7:08 And if there aren't three, make three by hook. Or by cleverness. But three, because whoever divided up the verse, the scripture into the verses, happened to make the division at the right place. It's one of those happy coincidences.

7:24 First of all, you have this command to intense watchfulness in two areas. To thyself and to thy teaching. The word tehid is a word which means pelt attention to. It's the word.

7:45 The word used in that historical narrative in the third chapter of Acts, where Peter and John are on their way to the temple, and a man who's been lame from birth is sitting there asking alms. And they say, look on us. And the scripture says, and he looked to them expecting to receive something from them. And Luke, in describing that activity by which a beggar, who is utterly dependent upon the benevolence of those who pass by for his very sustenance, he describes the activity of turning and fixing his gaze upon them with this same word. And he looked upon them with that focused gaze of expectation. That's the word that the Holy Ghost is seen fit to use to underscore this responsibility of every Christian minister to take heed to himself, that is, to pay close, scrutinizing attention to himself and to his teaching or to his doctrine. The second main division of the text is a charge to continue in this course of two-pronged watchfulness. Continue in these things. What things? Well, all the things that he's been

9:02 mentioning in general, but more particularly these two things, watchfulness over himself and watchfulness over his doctrine. And these are two verbs that come to us as present imperatives. These are things that come to us with all the weight of divine authority and they come to us couched in a way that reminds us that this is to be our constant concern. So then you have the command to intense watchfulness in two areas. Secondly, you have the charge to persevere in this course. This is not to be done by fits and starts. Timothy is not to get the letter from Paul and in the flux of that excitement say, oh, I just must do what the apostle has said and then two weeks later forget about it. No, no. He

9:53 is to continue in these things and then the text concludes with this gracious promise of the blessing of God. The blessing of God even unto salvation. For in doing this, that is, taking heed to yourselves and to your teaching and continuing therein, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee. Now the scriptures everywhere assert the strictest, strongest form of monergism, that salvation is of God from beginning to end. No one in the New Testament is more clear in asserting this fact again and again than the apostle Paul. And yet, it's Paul who uses this kind of terminology. Save thyself and save your hearers. Oh, what is he doing? Has he just sort of had a little bit of theological amnesia and

10:54 forgotten all that he believed and taught elsewhere? I know some preachers that seem to have periodic fits of theological amnesia. They confess one thing when they're before presbytery to be examined for ordination. But when you listen to them preach, the kindest thing you can say is they must have had some periods of theological amnesia.

11:17 Well, shall we accuse the apostle Paul of this? Save thyself? I thought salvation was of God from beginning to end. Well it is. But this God, as we shall see in the subsequent study, has so bound together his sin and his sin and his sin with the means by which those purposes are accomplished, that there are times when he speaks as though the means were accomplishing that end in and of themselves. So the apostle Paul in Timothy's mind, how can we assume that salvation was of God from beginning to end? You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right.

11:52 How closely related is the matter of his taking heed to himself and to his teaching was the accomplishment of the saving purpose of God that he states it in these very bold terms, Thou shalt save thyself from those that hear thee. He knew that to the heart of a man like Timothy could exert a more profound influence than that the saving purpose of God would be realized in him and through him. This, and you'll be promoted to a larger church, and you'll be accepted in the eyes of men. No, no, he holds before Timothy, motivates the most powerful influence in the heart of a true servant of Christ, without which nothing else satisfies him, but with which he can bear almost everything. To know that in my life, what I accomplish in others is being fulfilled by ministry. And so, he encourages obedience to the command and to the charge,

13:19 by this gracious promise that God's saving purpose will be realized in Timothy and then through him in his hearers. We move on to focus on the command that we dare not touch the inherent structure of this text. The promise is contingent on compliance with the command, and of God is committed to his own Jesus. Thou shalt save thyself and those natural divisions of the text. Let us now.

The Priority of Taking Heed to Thyself

14:27 Let us now focus on the command itself. To thyself.

14:36 The first thing I want us to observe with this command,

14:42 is the relationship between the two facets of that command. Our thinking, without exception, through every faculty member, every visitor, every preacher, every professor, it matters not who you are.

15:25 To our ecclesiastical issues, and many times,

15:37 this command is speaking to some men, who by temperament, of what it was, to what I would call, and when you look at it, in a text like this, this is what you see. You say, that's the key. If I would have the lives of others, who picks up the biographies of the mighty men of the past, what does he see?

16:43 Individuals says it to my lawyer, Rutherford. It doesn't matter if I, at the hour of my preaching, torture of hearing, in order to analyze sermons and say, well, with light, is it coming through with, and with color? Is it the kind of thing that'll make all such concern is rather carnal, and especially caricature?

18:12 And I had a big black board here, I'd like to, visually conceptualize this individual. He views the ministry, primarily as the effusive the great big beach ball side. I put a little picture and I've described it for you. It's encouraged that maybe you'll have a little bit more of intellectual demands of an effective ministry.

18:54 He'd out for that type of emphasis, because requisite for an effective ministry, take heed to, And I think this is more the practical danger of the majority of you here present. There are those who go off on the intellectual or the technical and academic imbalance. And it's interesting. They can read the same text, and this is what they see.

19:30 Take ye to thyself, and that's it. That's it.

19:42 And what do they see? They don't see Edward's intense godliness. They see his incisive, lawyer-like logic. And they say, that's the secret to his power.

19:54 If I can only give logic in my preaching, but just catch people by the sheer weight of its logical consistency. They pick up the same biographies and say, am I like Spurgeon? And they say, no. That man's walk with God was not the thing.

20:13 It was that vivid, though perhaps in some ways outdated, Victorian, poetic imagery. But he had that ability. He was the most effective speaker. He was he who can turn.

20:26 He can turn men's ears into eyes, and he reads Spurgeon, and he says, that's the secret. And if I can cultivate that ability, then the purposes will be realized through me. He picks up the sermons of McShane, and he says, ah, there's the secret to his power. That's simplicity.

20:45 Why, he hammered out his structure so clearly that little children could go home in the outline of the sermon to their mom and dads when they met for their Sabbath meal. And he says, now I must work and labor. In the area of my doctrine, of my teaching, there must be a ring of contemporaneity in my preaching. There must be an articulation to the times, a true biblical pronouncement in relevancy.

21:10 And if I can cultivate some of these things, then I will know an effective ministry. And whenever this individual hears any emphasis upon the inner life, when anyone seeks to hammer out this facet that we touched on earlier with the idea of the inner life, then I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it.

21:27 I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it.

21:27 I will be able to do it. I will be able to do it. Your spouse must be in the inner life for 20 years in the daily working life of sports and sports activities. It must be as long as you can appreciate it.

21:42 I had the energy to speak in a sermon where my wife and I went with both of us. Well, I often go to the beer club and I don't drink an hour, but sometimes I tend to drink one and I feel like, ah, I 지� luckily got to sort out something. Oh, I'm so happy that I'm having to. that what God has done itself. If we look at this command, the comparable relationship of the two parts, but the inspired of the two parts. What comes first? I believe this

The Danger of Spiritual Amnesia and Imperviousness

22:58 text, where it does come in the faith of Timothy, it would bear all Acts chapter 20. If we find the same perspective, the Apostle Paul has gathered the Ephesian elders together, and having first of all vindicated and described by way of remembering his own ministry, the purity of his motives, the content and manner of his preaching, he then turns to charge with their responsibility. And as he does, will you notice the order of that charge, Acts 20 and verse 28? The Spirit hath made you bitter overseers. Lead the church of the Lord, churches, with his own blood. And then he goes on to say, after my departure, wolves are going to enter in, and then there will be to draw people. You'd think certainly

24:25 your first responsibility is to guard the flock. No, it isn't. It's to guard your own relationship to your Lord.

24:35 First of all,

24:38 of prophecies in the directive of the Apostle. And so what inspired this is a warranted deduction.

24:58 Responsibility as a Christian minister is the nurture and the cultivation of my own heart and life in the presence, or first, in the presence of God. Your first and great reason to take heed, brethren, out of the painful experience

26:03 concerning the things necessary against to this command. First of all, from our own, and from the world, and from our domestic sphere, pressures that will move us aside again, and, but I think particularly of you young of being me, is it now

27:25 that you get this perspective and purpose, that when you take that Jones over there, preacher, to do this, this, and this, and this old to find out all active of you, and one thing I wish the time necessary disciplines upon my time

28:42 that I can no longer with the freshness intense with Christ has become a very acceptable treatment. Has he been running around with his organist? Even out shooting crap in the back alley with the boys?

29:30 He's not been guilty of any gross, scandalous sin. Has he relinquished doctrine? Oh, no. If questioned, he could give a good account of himself. What's the problem?

29:42 He has failed to take heed to himself, and bear a gray hair in his spiritual experience, and he knows it not. Like a Samson who's lost his soul and goes forth to battle, he knows not that the spirit has left him. Why? And to take heed to himself.

30:10 Where once conscience molded him, in certain areas now he's impervious, no longer winces.

30:23 Where once he felt an ache, if a day passed, and he didn't know the old writer's call, access in prayer, not just mouthing his prayer, but really praising that he laid hope. That was a wasted day as far as he was concerned, but now he can go through days and weeks and feel no pain,

30:45 though there's been no access.

30:48 And where once he knew what it was to grieve if he left the pulpit without some sense of conscious assistance in his preaching, now that he's learned the art of sermon construction and turning to when he preaches an unfelt, Christ. Am I talking to some such men here today?

31:19 Could it be that God has brought you here to bring you up short and face the fact that you've relinquished your primary responsibility? And that's why you are where you are today. You have failed to take heed to yourself. That is the first and the great responsibility. Now, as we seek to break down into some practical directives this matter of taking heed to ourselves, in what sense, in what ways, is it necessary for us as ministers and as those aspiring to the office of the ministry, I say, what ways are we to take heed to ourselves? And I want to suggest three distinct ways. I think we'll cover just one this afternoon and then, the Lord willing, pick up the other two in the first session tomorrow morning. I would suggest that we are to take heed to ourselves, first of all, making sure that we ourselves are in a state of grace. Secondly,

Three Ways to Take Heed to Thyself

32:34 taking heed to ourselves in that we are diligent to grow in grace. And thirdly, taking heed to ourselves, being careful that we manifest the reality of grace. First of all, then, take heed to thyself in this distinct way, in making sure that you yourself are in a state of grace. Timothy, you are not only to be concerned with the salvation of others, you are to be concerned with your own salvation.

33:10 For in doing these things, thou shalt save both thyself, and of course, in the context, the apostle is speaking primarily of the present and future aspects of salvation. But it doesn't trouble him at all, on the one hand, to say, Timothy, my true son in the faith, and yet say to that same Timothy, Timothy, lay hold on eternal life. The biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is woven through the fabric of the apostles' exhortations. Timothy, your son in the faith, lay hold of eternal life.

The Sobering Warning of Matthew 7:21-23

33:51 And so I would like to bring this very sobering exhortation home to the conscience of every man, every young man, every mature minister gathered in this building today. Take heed to yourself, that you yourself are in a state of grace. As long as a text such as Matthew 7, 21 to 23 is found in the pages of Holy Scripture, no man in the ministry should assume in a careless, cocky, flippant way that all must be well, since I am in the ministry, and I have ministerial gifts, and I have a measure of success. Listen to the sobering words of our Lord, Matthew 7, 21. Not only one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. And this is the word that troubles me in this text. If one word were changed in this text, it wouldn't trouble me. But it's the next word that

34:57 deeply disturbs me.

35:02 Many will say unto me. Many will say unto me. The same word he used earlier when he spoke of the broad road that leads to destruction and many there be which enter in thereas. He uses the same word and says, many will say unto me in that day. In other words, of the many on the broad road, there are not a few who fit this category. And notice their claim. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name? And by thy name thou demons, and by thy name, what do they claim? The implicit in their

35:49 words is some measure of theological orthodoxy. In this context, the last day, every Jew knew that the one who sat on the throne was God. And if Jesus is sitting on the throne and is addressed as Lord, it's one of those instances in which the giving of the title Lord to him is nothing less than an ascription of deity. Now it's here to be Lord.

36:16 Their confessional statement on the person of Christ is orthodox. Another thing that's implicit in their statement is that they believe in the supernatural.

36:30 They don't call demons psychological hang-ups. They believe in spirit beings called demons. Yes, they believe in demons. And they believe in a wheel to cast out the demons.

36:46 So they have some right view, not only of Christ's person, but of his power and his place of authority over all other spiritual powers. So much for their basic orthodoxy. They're hinted at. But notice their claim to ministerial gifts.

37:07 Did we not prophesy in thy name?

37:11 They were not just common people. But their gifts were recognized and they came up to the ranks of their fellow believers and ascended to places of public ministry. Prophesy in thy name. In thy name cast out demons. In thy name do many mighty works, fine works, supernatural works. So they had ministering gifts. And secondly, they had very manifest success.

37:37 That's what they plead before the Lord. We not only had gifts, but we had success attending the exercise of those gifts. In thy name, we cast out demons. And in thy name, mighty works were wrought.

37:52 Though they had a measure of orthodox theology,

37:57 they had some measure of ministerial gifts and some measure of manifest success. The one thing they lacked was sanctifying grace. Notice how our Lord answers them. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.

38:15 I never regarded you with distinguishing love and affection. I know my I have entered into relationship with love and affection, but I never knew you depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. Workers of iniquity? I thought they did mighty works.

38:38 They were workers of iniquity. They were strangers to inward sanctifying grace. The one indispensable evidence that we are in a state of grace. The Apostle Paul in that extended treatment on not so much a definition, but a description of Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13 assumes the possibility of rising to great prominence in the exercise of many gifts if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. Give up my body to be burned. Give away my goods to feed the poor.

39:21 If I am devoid of the inward workings of the grace of love, I am nothing. It profiteth me nothing. How then is a preacher to ascertain whether or not he will fall into this category? How is he to ascertain as he seeks to take heed to himself as to whether or not he's in a state of grace?

Ascertaining a State of Grace: The Question

39:41 Why, he's to ascertain the same way anyone else is. He's to look beyond all of his ministerial activity and he's to ask himself this very simple question.

39:54 What is there about me that has no explanation but that Almighty God has made me a new preacher in Christ Jesus?

40:09 That's the question. What is there about me in my essential mode of life in the motives by which I'm governed, the concepts which mold my life? What is there about me that has no other explanation other than that God himself has made me a new preacher in Christ? Well, it can't be that I preach because here there are people who will preach.

40:36 It can't be that I preach with success, that I have in some measure the gift of public utterance. These are no evidences of special grace.

40:48 Not once do we can lay hold of the mouth of an ass to speak and get one of his disobedient prophets back into the way of his purpose. No, no. The ability to speak or to speak in Christ's name and to speak with success is no evidence of inward special saving grace.

Ascertaining a State of Grace: Philippians 3:3

41:12 No, I must strip away all of these things and come to a text such as Philippians 3 and verse 3 and I only picked that out almost. Just arbitrarily, where the Apostle Paul describes the essential characteristics of a true Christian. And he does so in these words. We are the circumcision.

41:33 We are the true people of God who what? And then he gives these three characteristics of the true child of God. Who worship God by the Spirit or as it could be rendered, who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus. And who put no confidence in the flesh. Here these Judaizers are going around saying, now look, you may be little eeny, eensy, beansy half-baked sort of Christians, but if you want to be the real full-blown thing, get the mark of circumcision, then you'll really be a full-blown Christian. Paul says no more. We are the circumcision who what? Who worship by the Spirit. Whose

42:23 dealings with God are concordant and fizz. And whatever involvement we may have,

42:32 we break through the... I ask you, my preacher friend, do you know what worshiping God in the Spirit is?

42:45 When you pray your Sunday morning pastoral prayer, is that a professionally intoned exercise or is it but a reflection and an overflow of that exercise to which you are no stranger in the closet day after day?

43:05 If you do not pray in the secret place as one who has come to the knowledge of the living God through his Son, Jesus Christ, for this is life eternal that they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ and thou sent, if you do not know that it is to worship God in the Spirit, in the secret place, seeking his face, praising him, bowed before him in adoration, in wonder and awe. If that is in the closet, day in and day out, week in and week out worship is that formal thing that you call your pastoral prayer and your invocation and your benediction my dear preacher friend, you're on dangerous ground. Dangerous ground. We are the circumcision who worship God, who in Christ Jesus, who not only speak of him, but who glory in him. Who have been brought to that discovery of themselves, that then having been brought to a discovery of God's grace in Christ. Christ

44:25 is not the theological concept. He is not just a word upon our lips. He is that one whose glory we have seen and beheld and our hearts have been ravished. Though at times we mourn our lack of love to him, and though there are times when we say, Lord, do I really love you? The undergirding current of our lives is one in which we glory in Christ Jesus. So that if there are apparent successes in our ministries, it doesn't turn in the head. For we're not using the ministry as a pedestal upon which to parade our own proficiency. No, no. We glory

45:12 in Christ Jesus. And in times when our faith is tested and there's very little evidence that the smile of God we continue to glory. In Christ Jesus as our only mediator, our only Lord and Savior that on the ways at the right hand of the Father, we glory in Christ. And we put no confidence in the flesh.

45:38 No confidence in the flesh for our acceptance after we've preached for 20 years and have perhaps seen dozens or hundreds brought to Christ through our ministries and the people of God. We can still sing. Even with more earnestness than when we were first brought to the Savior. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. How I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Is that your experience, my dear preacher friend?

46:20 You answer with judgment day honesty as in the presence of God. Take heed to yourself. Take heed to yourself. That you yourself are in a state of grace.

The Test of Stripping Away Ministerial Duties

46:33 And that's to be determined by asking the question, what is there about me that only special saving grace can produce? And part of the answer is a text like Philippians 3.3. Part of the answer is a section like the Beatitudes.

46:50 Let me put it this way in the most pointed way I know.

46:55 If you were to strip away from your life all praying that was directly related to ministerial duties, what would you have left?

47:10 What would you have left of prayer that was rooted in the fact that you were a sinner whom God had rescued by His grace and set on the pathway to glory and into whose heart there had been implanted a hungering for conformity to the image of Christ. What prayer is that that is the breathing out for greater conformity to Christ? Any prayer left for that? Strip away all that is connected with your official ministry.

47:42 Episcopal choral duties. What kind of prayer is that is involved with true spiritual mourning over your sin, with hungerings and thirstings after God?

47:58 Anything left? That's the question you and I must ask ourselves. Strip away all my dealings with the scriptures that are prompted, triggered by the official responsibilities of my clerical office. What do I have left of dealings with this book simply as a Christian?

48:22 Who longs to see the face of my Savior reflected in its pages? Simply, the dealings of a disciple who wants to know the mind of his master. I venture to say in a group of this size of so many ministers and potential ministers, there are more than the ones of the twos who have little, if any, clue to the scriptures apart from those dealings triggered by official ministerial responsibility.

48:55 Take heed. If someone should come to a preacher who has saving grace as well as ministerial gifts and rip his tongue out so he never could speak again in Christ's name, his basic relationship to that book would not change one eye.

49:17 Because his essential dealings with that book are rooted in his saving relationship to the God of that book, not his special office as a preacher of that book. Well, the time has come, and perhaps this is the best place to just break off rather abruptly and leave the question with each of you.

Conclusion: A Frightening Thing to Perish from the Pulpit

49:46 One seasoned servant of God has said, it is a frightening thing to perish beneath the shadow of a gospel pulpit.

49:57 It is more frightening to perish from the pulpit itself.

50:04 Oh, my dear friends, and it's in that spirit that I address you. Take heed to yourself that you yourself are in a state of grace. As Spurgeon said in speaking to his students in his collection of lectures, he said, it is no child's play to ascertain so vital an issue. Perhaps that would be the best way to close by just quoting a paragraph from Spurgeon.

50:34 Listen to the words of this seasoned servant of God. The possession of this first qualification is not a thing to be taken for granted by any man, for there's a very great possibility of our being mistaken as to whether we are converted or not. And believe me, it is no child's play to make your calling and election sure. The world is full of counterfeits and swarms with panderers to carnal self-conceit who gather around a minister as vultures gather around a carcass.

51:08 Our own hearts are so deceitful that the truth lies not on the surface but must be drawn up from the deepest well. We must search ourselves anxiously and thoroughly, lest by any means after having preached to others, we ourselves may God help us to take heed to ourselves.